- By Ron BetistPublished On: August 3, 2017
Cool Yamaha XV535 Virago Flat Tracker built by Dino Maltoni from Mendoza, Argentina. Nicolás Fernández about the project: This bike was an awesome challenge for us since it was in an extremely poor condition. As with most of our projects, we started by disassembling the entire bike. Our plan was to […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: July 11, 2017
While the typical cafe racer had a huge revival this and the past decennium, the biggest hype seems to be over. Almost every customized motorcycle with clip ons got the tag “cafe” and people seem to be a bit tired of the cafe racer (don’t get me wrong, I still love […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: July 7, 2017
From mild-mannered cruiser to hard-edged café racer, change is a beautiful thing. Check out this Top 10 Yamaha Virago Cafe Racers and see if you agree. The Yamaha Virago was a significant milestone in the Japanese Cruiser family tree, but before we get there, here’s a quick cruiser history lesson. Not surprisingly […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: June 30, 2017
Another custom XSR700?!? Yes… Since the introduction of the Yamaha XSR700 back in 2016, I predicted that we could a lot of customized versions. With the XSR-series, Yamaha openly aimed at an audience that wants to distinguish themselves with their motorcycles. For this, they offer a complete range of custom, bolt-on […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: June 21, 2017
Under the label “if it ain’t Dutch, it ain’t much”, Yamaha Motor The Netherlands and watch brand TW Steel, work together to create a line of unique custom motorcycles that are linked to each other. One year ago this unique collaboration started with this cool custom XV950R, built by the guys […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: May 11, 2017
Time flies when you’re having fun…: back in October 2015, Yamaha introduced the DT-07 Flat Tracker concept. A project by Yamaha and JPD Cycles and inspired by the recognizable black and yellow Yamaha XS650 in the old days of flat track racing with “King” Kenny Roberts as a dominant factor. The […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: March 23, 2017
The first successful naked bikes were launched in the 70s. There was a real battle between the four big Japanese (or big four if you like ;) brands in the naked bike market. Honda had their CB-series, Kawasaki the Z-series, Suzuki the GT-series and Yamaha was pretty successful with their RD-series. […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: March 12, 2017
With every bike from XTR Pepo I can start with a story about how amazing his work is, that he’s a true legend and a master builder. Just like this time ;). Pepo is simply one of the best custom bike builders out there. Most of his latest builds are bikes inspired […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: November 30, 2016
Since day one I’m a big fan of Jose Rosell’s (a.k.a. “Pepo”) work. Usually Pepo focusses on Ducati’s, but this time he took a ’92 BMW R100R as a base bike for another awesome creation. His goal was to build a real classic racer, stuffed with only the best parts and […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: September 15, 2016
Yamaha made a strong move with the introduction of the their 07 and 09 models of the XSR and MT series. Where the 09 models have an awesome, high performing 3 cylinder, the 07 models are fitted with a 270 degree twin engine with Yamaha’s crossplane engine philosophy. Both engines have their own […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: February 26, 2016
First of all: the title of this post is not in line with the actual cylinder capacity: since this Yamaha XS650 Scrambler by Dime City Cycles is based on a stock XS650, it’s fitted with a big bore kit what makes this a XS744 Scrambler. The base bike was a 1980 […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: November 17, 2015
It was just a matter of time for the Yamaha XSR900 to come. After the successful launch of the Yamaha XSR700, Yamaha decided to power up their range of retro bikes. This bike is a great add-on to todays modern classics. This time with the already legendary 850cc triple cylinder of […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: October 18, 2018
Somewhere slightly hidden away in an industrial park in the Northern part of Amsterdam little bits of magic lighten up the workshop. Hunched over his sewing machine Jeroen Bouwmeester of ‘Silver Machine Custom Seats’ creates the custom seats for a worldwide audience of bikers and builders. It is his true craftsmanship […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: July 17, 2017
I’m pleased to feature another cool build of Max and Jérôme, owners of custom motorcycle workshop and café HIDE Brussels. This is their 13th build and just like their other creations, has a rather unusual base bike. It’s based on a ’05 Husqvarna 450 SMR and this raw and radical looking machine is […]
- By Ron BetistPublished On: March 24, 2017
Scramblers maybe one of the most popular type of custom bikes lately. You see them pop up everywhere and every self-respecting brand now offers a production model. While the scrambler motorcycle has its origin back in the 1920s, we may carefully say that Triumph started a “new wave” of Scrambler enthusiasm with the […]
- By Casper van der VenPublished On: January 12, 2024